Ty

Has anyone ever rebuilt the power steering pump? . When i bought the car it had an almost clear looking fluid in it. The manual says to put in mercon iii which has a red color so i did thinking it wouldn't hurt anything. Man was i wrong. The pump has started whinning and fighting me badly and now it's leaking about as quick as i can pour more into the reserve holder. Is it better to get the rebuild kit or to just go ahead and buy a new or rebuilt one? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

stonecreek

I rebuilt mine. Very easy job and the rebuild kit cost like $15.00.

As for the fluid just use automatic tranny fluid.


Good Luck.

Ty

Well i unbolted the 4 bolts at the corner and found out where 3 of the oil seals go, but how do i get to the inside of the spin shaft to access the others?

User 41221

Here ya go...

Power steering pump rebuild

Make sure you have a clean, well lit workbench to do the rebuild on. When working with cleaning solvents, make sure the area is well ventilated. Prior to starting, open up your seal kit and make sure you have the impeller housing seal (bluish colored seal), the large o-ring and the irregular shaped seal and the irregular shaped retainer. Those are the only parts you will need, everything else can be discarded.

Always follow proper safety procedures when working on your car. Use jack stands when working under a raised vehicle, and make sure you wear safety glasses. Know the proper use for each tool and make sure your tools are in good condition. I can’t stress this enough.

Step 1: Remove pump from vehicle.

Step 2: Place power steering pump in a catch pan, as fluid will spill out of it.

Step 3: Remove the power steering pump pulley (three 10mm bolts that were securely fastened at the factory with loctite). An air ratchet will come in handy here, if you have one.

Step 4: Remove the three remaining bolts that hold the power steering pump housing together (the fourth bolt was removed when you took the pump off the car). Please make note of the orientation of the mounting bracket that is attached to the pump.

Step 5: Separate the power steering pump housing and discard the o-ring that fits between the two halves.

Step 6: On the impeller housing (that’s the front part of the housing that the pulley mounts to), there is an impeller backing plate with an irregularly shaped gasket. The gasket consists of two pieces, the rubber seal and a guide wire, both of the same shape. Using a pick, carefully remove this gasket and discard.

Step 7: The piece that you just removed the gasket from comes off by pulling on it. No tools should be necessary to remove this, just give it a good tug. Orient the impeller housing so that you are pulling upward, as the impeller itself is a rotating disc with small blades that slide back and forth in an oblong shaped housing, the blades can fall out if you aren’t careful.

Step 8: Clean the impeller backing plate as necessary and insert the new irregular shaped gasket, and set aside for reassembly later.

Step 9: Remove the spring clip that holds the impeller shaft. This will be the hardest part of the entire rebuild procedure. I use the “small screwdriver and a pick” method, with okay results. I have to believe Snap-on makes a tool that would make this easier, but I haven’t looked into it yet. Be careful not to bend or deform the spring clip too much, as you will need to reuse it when you reassemble the pump.

Step 10: Remove the impeller, and be careful to keep track of the 10 impeller blades, as they are not attached to anything and will fall out of the impeller easily. I usually soak the impeller and blades in parts cleaner and reinsert the blades upon reassembly. If your pump looks fairly clean inside, you can skip cleaning it.

Step 11: Remove the impeller shaft, by pulling it out of the front of the housing, and clean it as necessary. A quick dip in parts cleaner and a wipe down with a clean, lint free rag should be sufficient. Inspect the impeller shaft for obvious wear, it should be smooth with no grooves worn it the shaft.

Step 12: Remove the impeller shaft seal at the nose of the shaft housing. Again, I am sure Snap-on makes the proper tool for removing this seal, I make do with a decent set of needle nose pliers, as the seal is going in the trash once its removed.

Step 13: Insert the new impeller shaft seal. I lube it with a bit of power steering fluid, get it started in the housing, and then tap it in using a socket that’s just a bit smaller than the outside diameter of the seal. Make sure it goes in straight, and it should fully seat itself when the seal is recessed in the housing by about 1 to 2mm.

Step 14: Reassemble the impeller housing by inserting the impeller shaft (a dab of power steering fluid on the inside of the seal is recommended), place the impeller wheel (my preference is to do this with the blades out of the impeller wheel to keep from having them fall out) on the end of the shaft and then reinstall the snap ring. The snap ring may fit a bit more loosely than before if you are reusing it, but it will be held in place by the impeller backing plate, so it should be no cause for concern.

Step 15: Reinsert the blades into the impeller wheel. Be careful to make sure that the rounded edge is the part that sticks out of the impeller wheel when it rotates. The sharp edge of the blade should be even with the face of the impeller, as opposed to the edge of the impeller wheel (if I can find a better way to phrase this, I will come back and edit it!)

Step 16: Reinsert the impeller backing plate. Take care to orient the plate properly over the two aligning studs and then press it together (no tools necessary, you should be able to fit it by hand).

Step 17: Remove the spider clip that holds the piston and spring inside the back half of the pump housing (a small screwdriver works fine for this), and then remove the piston and spring. Pay attention to the orientation of the piston when removing it. Remove the set screw on the outside of the rear housing, and then thoroughly clean the assembly. Reinstall the components that you removed. Depending on the condition of your pump, you may omit this step if your pump is clean inside for your liking.

Step 18: Place the big o-ring in the groove on the front housing and reassemble the pump housing. Tighten it to 20Nm.

Step 19: Reattach the power steering pump pulley, using red locktite on the threads of the bolts. Tighten to 20Nm.

Step 20: Reinstall the power steering pump on your car, refill the reservoir and check for leaks.

Throw away all the extra parts that were left over from the seal kit. You should have the smaller of the two big o-rings, two ¾” o-rings, two 3/8” o-rings and a split ring (two pieces) left over.

Ty

Thanks alot Scott! This info is greatly appreciated.

Zero10

It sounds like there was some stop leak or something in there, that's about the only reason I can think of that it would leak like that when the fluid was changed.
Absolutely, just use ATF in there. That's what the rest of us use